“What the hell are you calling me for?!?” Gavin hissed, slamming the office door and picking up the phone.

“Well I tried calling you at home, but your wife hung up on me,” Garrett replied calmly.

“Good. What the fuck do you want??”

“You know why I’m calling, Gavin, even you aren’t that stupid.”

“I watch the news. They’re on to you, brother. But you know something? I told you I was done, and I meant it. I’m not coming to bail out your ass. I have a life… and I don’t want my family dead.”

“You don’t get it. You think I would have bothered tracking you down for a social call? I need your help, Gavin.” Garrett paused, wondering how much he could reveal on the phone. “It’s serious.”

“I don’t care if you need my help. I’ve got a wife and two kids I want to watch grow up. And in case you missed it, I don’t exactly have a lot of love for you, my brother.”

“No, really? Now I know why we never got any Christmas cards.” Garrett replied sarcastically. “If you don’t help me, then you’ve sentenced *my* wife and five kids to death, Gavin.”

“They’re not my family.”

“Maybe not, but how would your wife take it if she knew you were responsible for the death of her sister?”

Gavin hung up.

~*~*~*~

“How did he find out where we were?” Grace asked, once she’d sent the kids off to do their homework. “We moved clear across the damned country and we still can’t seem to get away.”

“He’s got more intelligence sources than the government, Grace. That’s how he keeps his head attached at the neck. He’s not as stupid as we’d all like to think…”

“So he decides to get us killed too? It’s bad enough that we’ve moved halfway to Guam to try and get away from him!”

“I knew we should have gone to Canada. He’s trying to guilt us into going back… claiming they’re gonna kill Cassidy and the kids.”

“And if he gets his way, we’ll go back, and something will happen, and Chelsea or Zack will die this time.”

“I’m not going back to be pulled into a half-assed plan, Grace. Don’t worry.” He kissed her forehead.

“It’s my job to worry.”

~*~*~*~

“Hey Mom!” a ten-year old Michael called into the house. “Guess what?!?”

“What?” Cassidy asked as she headed downstairs to greet the boys. They were always the last ones home; the girls, being in the middle school and high school, got out earlier.

“We were in a shoot-out! It was sooooo cool! You should’ve seen dad blow the bad guys away!” Michael exclaimed.

Cassidy stood there absolutely dumbfounded for a moment, then looked to her husband. He didn’t seem to be badly hurt, though he’d certainly be hiding it in front of the boys if he were.

Garrett gave her a slightly sheepish look. “Just a little after-school excitement, right boys? Why don’t you go on upstairs?” He pushed them to the stairs.

The older of the two boys turned around. “Dad? It really *was* cool when you hit that guy and he fell and his brains were all over the street…” Garrett said.

“Go on upstairs, buddy.” Garrett told his son before turning back to Cassidy. “Hey you.”

“Were they after you or the boys, Garrett? Oh, I guess it didn’t matter, as long as every Spencer with a penis is in a six foot long box –“

Garrett the younger shoved his brother upstairs. “Come on, she’s *really* mad, we’ll be able to hear her from upstairs.”

“Cass, calm down. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Just a few guys. I handled it.”

She sighed. “I’m not worried about that… they’re getting a *lot* bolder, Garrett. They used to be pretty covert; not to say they weren’t out for blood, but they opened fire at an elementary school. They’ve got something up their sleeves. We just moved, we really can’t move everything again, and you can’t run things from out of the country permanently… I just don’t see what we’re going to do.”

“I’m going to think of something that’ll get their attention off of you and the kids. You may have to take them to Spain for a little—“ Garrett stopped mid-sentence. “On second thought…I’ve got to go talk to some people.” He kissed her forehead. “I won’t let them come near the kids.”

Cassidy paused a moment in his arms. “Alright. I have to make a phone call.” She kissed his cheek and then headed off up the stairs.

~*~*~*~

“Spencer Residence.” Chelsea picked up the phone.

“Hi, is Grace there?”

“Um… who is this?”

“Auntie Cass.”

“Dad said you were dead.”

“Well maybe he’s a little confused, we’re trying to fix that. May I talk to your mom, please, Chelsea?”

“MOM!” Chelsea called down the hall. “PHONE!”

“Hello?” Grace picked up the phone as Chelsea hung up the extension.

“Hello, Grace. It’s been a while.”

”Yeah…” Grace looked around the empty kitchen, considering for a moment taking the cordless into the closet. “What are you doing?”

“Grace, listen… I know how much you and Gavin wanted to take your kids and go someplace safe… but it’s not going to *be* safe anymore. They – there was a flat-out assassination attempt today, the IMF tried to kill Garrett and the boys. They opened fire at an elementary school, Grace…”

Grace sighed. “No, it is safe for us. I don’t mean to sound like an uncaring bitch, but Gavin and I made a decision, and nothing is going to change that.”

“Until they come after you. And your kids. They killed one, you really think they’re going to stop and think before they kill another? And then you’ll come here, you’ll come to us for help, but it’ll be too late. Garrett’ll be dead, and I’ll be nothing more than the poor widow. And I swear to you, you’ll be on a street, because I won’t help you.”

“Do not use my kids to guilt me into convincing Gavin to go back. We’ve worked too hard to start our lives over…to make our kids safe, I’m not about to go back and put them in any more danger than they have to be in.”

“They’re going to be in a lot more danger once mine are dead. In case you missed it, there’s still two Spencers left. Whether they want to be or not… I don’t want to guilt you, I don’t want to sit here and try to scare you. But I do know that we need Gavin back here. And if we don’t get him I’m going to lose my family… provided, of course, I’m still alive to miss them. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure someone alerts you when my funeral comes around.” Cassidy slammed down the phone.

Grace threw the phone against the counter and just stared at the floor for a minute. She wouldn’t let Cassidy guilt her into going back. She wasn’t about to give up her family’s safety for her sister’s.

~*~*~*~

Cassidy came downstairs to find the front door left open. A sick feeling settled in her stomach… “Garrett!” She screamed.

The kids had been cooped up in the house for days now, but it seemed someone was sick of being safely shut inside.

“Garrett!” She yelled again, gun in her hand as she stormed outside.

“Cass!” Garrett grabbed her by her shoulders, pulling her back into the house. “You can’t go out there. There are IMF agents surrounding the house, just waiting for that.”

She looked at him wide-eyed. “One of the kids… the door was open…”

Garrett stopped for a minute. “Stay inside with the kids…I’ll go get whoever went out.”

She waited until he’d gone outside and then followed him at a slight distance, enough that he wouldn’t notice unless he turned directly around.

Garrett looked around the yard and spotted Michael hopping over the side fence. “MICHAEL!” He yelled.

Michael turned around, catching sight of his parents, but had no time to yell anything back, for at that moment four of the IMF agents opened fire. Michael fell off the fence into a pile of leaves.

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